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To Chop Jelly
Cut the jelly slowly, first in one direction, then in the opposite direction. Each piece, whether large or small, should be clean-cut and distinct.
Aspic melts or softens in a warm place, and should not be taken from the mould until the time of serving, and then it must be handled with care.
Consommé for Aspic Jelly.
Cut two pounds of beef from the under part of the round and two pounds of shin of veal into small pieces; crack the bones in the shin. Place over the fire with two and a half quarts of cold water; add one ounce of lean ham. Heat slowly, and cook just below the boiling-point two or three hours; then add to the kettle a three-pound fowl, and allow it to remain till tender. Put some marrow into the frying-pan, and when hot sauté in it a small onion cut fine, two tablespoonfuls, each, of chopped celery, carrot and turnip; add to the soup kettle, removing the fowl, together with a sprig, each, of parsley, thyme and summer savory,
Two things are going on here: a note on cutting set aspic for garnish, and the stock that becomes that aspic. The original text breaks off mid-sentence, so the finishing steps — straining, clarifying, seasoning and chilling — are missing and must be supplied from general practice.
- The hinge: never let it boil"Cook just below the boiling-point" means holding the pot at a bare simmer, roughly 180-185F in modern terms, with only occasional lazy bubbles at the edge. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and breaks up the protein scum into the liquid, making a clear jelly much harder to achieve.
- Chopping the jellyCut in one direction, then across, with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped between strokes. Work on chilled aspic straight from the refrigerator; once it warms the cuts smear instead of staying "clean-cut and distinct."
- Shin of veal is the pointThe veal shin and cracked bones supply the collagen that makes the consommé set without added gelatin. Veal shin is still sold by many butchers; ask for it cut across, bone in. Do not substitute boneless meat and expect a jelly.
- A three-pound fowl"Fowl" meant an older laying hen, tougher and far more flavorful than a broiler. A 3-4 lb stewing hen is the right thing; a supermarket roasting chicken works but will reach the recipe's "tender" much sooner.
- Marrow for the sautéMarrow for the sauté from a a beef bone is what this recipe calls for. Butter or a spoonful of the fat skimmed from the stock does the same job.
- Quantities in modern termsTwo and a half quarts is 10 cups. One ounce of lean ham is a single thin slice - it is there for savor, not bulk. Summer savory is stocked dried where fresh is unavailable.
- Finishing what the page cuts offStrain through a cloth, chill, lift off the fat cake, then clarify by whisking in lightly beaten egg whites (two per quart) with a little chopped lean beef, bringing the pot slowly to 185F without stirring and letting the raft set before ladling the liquid out through a moistened cloth.
- Testing the setChill a spoonful on a saucer in the refrigerator. If it does not firm within 15 minutes, either reduce the stock further or soften a teaspoon of powdered gelatin per cup and stir it into the warm consommé. Season assertively; cold blunts salt.
- Yield and handlingExpect roughly six cups of finished jelly, enough to line a mould and garnish a large salad platter. Unmould at the last moment, as the recipe warns — aspic slumps within minutes at room temperature.
Aspic belongs to the era when the strength of a kitchen was measured by the clarity of its consommé. A jelly like this one is nothing but stock made so rich in dissolved collagen that it sets by itself, and the double meat base - beef round for flavor, veal shin for body, with a whole fowl added later so it does not overcook - follows the standard French formula for a jellied consommé that American cookbooks of the period reproduced. Chopped aspic is decoration: glittering dice scattered around a mould or a cold bird, the late-Victorian equivalent of a garnish that proves the cook did the long work. It is also thrift dressed as luxury, since the same pot that yields the jelly yields the boiled beef and fowl for the next day's table.